Dangerous interference, p.16
Dangerous Interference, page 16
Funny how she experienced no qualms about accepting the exalted sensations they drove her to this time, or the avid interest from the other guests. Unable to refuse his demand, Alena let go, wondering how on earth she’d ever find her sanity after the mania of the past few hours.
Chapter Eleven
“Where are we going?” Alena managed to rouse enough from her stupor to notice Randy had driven past the turnoff for the marina and kept heading toward town.
“You need to come back with us,” Nash said.
Wrapping his arm around her shoulders, Nash pulled her closer to him. As much as she appreciated their comfort and insight into her frayed and confused emotions, she wanted to be alone, needed time to herself to sort out her feelings and desperately needed to put their unorthodox relationship back into perspective of what she required from them.
“No.” Pulling away from his embrace, she turned to look at Randy. “Take me back to the marina and my boat. I don’t want to go home with you.”
“Alena…”
Holding up her hand, she demanded, “Now, Sheriff.”
They both heard the slight tremor in her voice and Nash gave Randy a slow nod, though neither was too happy when he wheeled around and drove back to the turnoff. Pulling into the lot, Randy put the cruiser in gear and twisted to face her in the dim light cast from the lone street light he parked under. “You sure you’ll be okay?”
Alena hoped her smile worked well enough to ease his gruff concern. Unlike Nash, who did nothing to disguise his worry on her behalf, Randy masked his with his usual rough grumble of annoyance. Why she liked that as much as she did Nash’s sexy accent was just one more thing she needed to work through, and soon.
“I’m sure, and I’m sorry for tonight. It was just too good an opportunity to pass up.”
“I think you said something similar about meeting Kevin at The Well. Does that mean if another good opportunity arises, you’ll leap on it?”
“I’m not planning to,” she told Nash with straightforward honesty, “but I’m also not promising I won’t. I guess it’ll be up to you whether I go to the party next week with or without you. Let me out, please.”
Nash opened his door and slid out without arguing, but cupped her nape and drew her up for a hard, possessive kiss before telling her, “See you soon.”
With her mouth tingling and feeling their eyes on her back, she strolled toward her docked boat and climbed aboard. She didn’t hear them drive away until she went below and flipped on the small lamp by her narrow bunk that didn’t look very appealing at that moment. She really missed her double bed with its soft mattress and downy comforter, the quiet hum of her air conditioner and the louder street noises of her busy, congested city. That was the only explanation she could come up with for the sudden loneliness assailing her as she slipped under the sheets with a sigh. Tomorrow, she thought on a drowsy sigh, she would work all this nonsense out then.
* * *
Even though she managed to get a good night’s sleep after the physical and emotional stress of the night before, Alena woke sore and edgy, her emotions still bunched in a cluster of unanswered, confusing questions. How much she had liked both Randy’s and Nash’s attentive regard following her explosive climaxes worried her. Unlike her, they knew what she needed and hadn’t hesitated to give it to her. She also didn’t care for how badly she wanted to go home with them last night, regardless of the desire to be alone with her confused jumble of thoughts. Nothing could come of their strange three-way alliance. Even if she wanted a steady relationship, which she didn’t and never had, she would be returning to New York and Nash to Great Britain in a short time. As soon as they found Ashley, the tenuous thread holding them together would be severed, and sex, no matter how mind-boggling, wouldn’t be enough to overcome the obstacles they’d have to hurdle to keep this thing going, whatever it was.
Swearing if Ashley didn’t get her act together after this debacle she’d wash her hands of her once and for all, Alena stepped into the compact shower and stayed until she drained the small hot water supply. When that didn’t work to ease her aches and pains, she snatched a glazed donut saved from her bakery run yesterday, slung her camera around her neck, and went in search of a new trail to hike, confident the exercise would be what she needed to both ease her tense muscles and get her mind focused back on the reason she still hung around this back woods town.
“Morning, Alena,” Bill called out, waving to her as she hopped off the boat onto the pier. “Nice afternoon for a hike.”
“Speaking of which,” she replied, strolling toward his small office/shop where he was pinning something on the outside information pegboard, “can you point me in a new direction today?”
“Sure. You haven’t taken the east trails. They’ll lead you along some stream beds and you might get a glimpse of both deer and moose. This warm weather keeps them close to the water. But I have to caution you again about going out alone. Never a good idea.”
“I’m from New York, remember?” she teased him. “Trust me, there’s nothing lurking in those woods that’ll scare me, and I’m pretty good about taking care of myself. What’s that about?” She pointed at the flyer he had tacked up when she saw it advertised a town annual celebration of some sort.
“Blue Springs Summer Bash. Been going on for over thirty years, least as I can recall. Rides, games, a parade, and food. Folks’ll bring covered dishes that’ll make your mouth water. Everything closes for the day, ends with fireworks over the lake Thursday night. You won’t want to miss it.”
She wasn’t so sure of that, but kept her cynical view of what these small town residents considered fun to herself. “I’ll think about it.”
His weathered face creased into a frown of concern as she turned to leave. “Heard what happened the other night at the bar. Glad you’re okay, but that proves you can’t be too careful.”
“I’ve got your number in case I run into trouble. Thanks.”
Waving, she headed toward the trails as she continued to marvel over the fast spread of gossip in this place. Given their penchant for escalating rumors, it surprised her that her full name hadn’t been unearthed by Bill, or one of the other town folk by now. Of course, paying for everything in cash helped keep her anonymity, but the way gossip traveled, she figured someone would have done some snooping right after she had arrived and given her away.
Over the past few weeks, she’d discovered she enjoyed traipsing through the woods, snapping pictures of anything that caught her eye. When she needed a diversion from her stressful job of photographing all the bad things people were capable of doing, the scrapbook she planned to make would fit the bill nicely, remind her there was still beauty in the world despite all the ugliness.
Biting into her soft, sugar-laden donut, she let the warm, pleasant afternoon and the late breakfast decadence lighten her mood. The quiet peacefulness of the woods proved soothing to her frayed nerves, but she still had no answers to her plaguing feelings by the time she retraced her steps back to the marina two hours later. She kept thinking the woman who got aroused from the hard swats a stranger delivered to her butt wasn’t her, neither was the person who responded so quickly, so openly to nothing but ass finger-fucking. It felt as if a stranger had invaded her body the moment she’d stepped into the sheriff’s office and laid eyes on the two of them, an alien who showed no signs of leaving soon. When she realized how much she was looking forward to the next party, she finally came to the conclusion she liked kinky sex with the guys, and the best thing she could do would be to enjoy them while she had the chance, before she returned home and the real world crept back in.
After stowing her camera, Alena drove the short distance to town, parked in the small lot at the end of Main Street, and took her time ambling down to the library. A nice long chat via skyping with her friends ought to go a long way in taking her mind off two hot, caring, out-of-reach men and her wayward, uncontrollable responses to them. She knew if she just kept her eye on her goal and the real reason she remained here, these strange, undesirable feelings would go away as soon as she got her answers and returned to normal life.
She didn’t see either Randy or Nash on her way to the library, but waved to a few people she recognized by face if not name. By the time she finished catching up on what everyone had been up to, she was so homesick she had to fight off the urge to jump in her car and drive back home that night. Lost in her nostalgic thoughts, she didn’t realize she’d strolled close to the beauty shop until she heard Cora Sue greet her.
“Hey there, Alena.” Cora Sue looked up from watering the colorful flowers potted in front of her shop. “How’d you enjoy your first party at Bryan’s, and more important, how’d you enjoy our sheriff and his hot friend?”
Alena couldn’t prevent the wide grin spreading across her face. The mischievous twinkle in Cora’s eyes and friendly, open banter helped ease the loneliness that had crept in while talking with her friends and hearing about the fun they had going out last weekend to their favorite sushi bar and club.
“What? Are you telling me every detail of the other night hasn’t made it to your ears yet? I find that hard to believe,” she teased her right back.
Laughing, Cora squirted her sandaled feet with the hose. “Okay, maybe Carlee hinted at a few things when I stopped in for lunch earlier.” Fanning herself in an over-dramatized manner, she said, “Whew, girlfriend, you know what a lucky bitch you are? I’d give anything to have been strung up in your place.”
Jumping back, Alena laughed with her. “Okay, that part was all good, eventually, but not… how much did she tell you?”
“Just that you seemed to have a good time and the guys took good care of you. Said even she was jealous of the attention they gave you.”
She wouldn’t mention the humiliating chastisement if Carlee hadn’t. Maybe there was a slim chance that part of the night wouldn’t get around. Strange, she mused, that she didn’t find the spankings either Randy or Nash administered nearly as embarrassing as those swats from Bryan.
“Well, I’ll be gone soon and you’ll get them back. Make sure you take good care of them for me.”
“Oh, no worries there. Make sure you come around Thursday for our annual summer celebration.”
“Will do,” she assured her as she picked up her tread, thinking nothing sounded less appealing right now. Born and raised in the city, she never could fathom the draw of small town celebrations. Thinking of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parades and New Year’s Eve bashes she’d attended over the years, fishing contests, softball tournaments, and a small high school band marching down Main Street just couldn’t compete.
A dinner crowd filled the diner so she ordered to go and returned to her boat to eat after assuring Carlee in a quiet, aside conversation she was okay with everything that had gone down the other night. It was nice of Carlee to worry and care, even if it was her boyfriend who had given her such grief.
She fell asleep a few hours later wondering at the discontent plaguing her after spending the day like she always had, part in solitude and part with others.
One minute she was drifting off to sleep to the constant clicking beat from crickets and the occasional owl hoot, and the next waking to choking fear as a startling, heavy weight landed on top of her. Inky darkness revealed nothing except her small nightlight had been turned off, but she didn’t need to see to feel warm breath fanning her neck and the painful press of a gloved hand over her mouth, robbing her of breath.
“You’ve been snooping where you don’t belong and people around here don’t take kindly to that.”
The insidious voice whispering in her ear turned cold fear to throat-gripping, icy terror as she struggled to free herself from his crushing weight. Her strength-robbing efforts only managed to amuse him, more so when she wiggled her arms loose and went for his eyes only to encounter the soft knit of a face mask.
“Want to mark me, do you? I’m too smart to let a cunt get her claws in me.”
Suddenly her mouth was free, but before she could gather enough air to scream, his hands locked around her throat, the tight squeeze cutting off her air and sending her terror to a new level. Lights danced behind her eyelids as panic overrode the pain and threatened to take her under faster than his chokehold.
A shudder of revulsion rippled throughout her when her assailant rasped his tongue over her ear right before she barely managed to hear him snarl, “Back off, bitch, or next time I won’t stop.”
He cut her breath completely with the next squeeze, turning off the meager flickering lights of awareness and plunging her into total oblivion.
* * *
Consciousness made a slow return as Alena roused to disoriented darkness and silence. The gentle bobbing of the boat, which she’d begun to find soothing, had her fighting back nausea. Residue shock and lingering fear kept her immobile for several moments as she strained to hear any movement or breathing other than her own. The crickets still sang their night chorus, the owls still let everyone know they were awake, but of her attacker she heard nothing.
Rolling over, she fumbled for the switch to the small nightlight next to the bunk, then squinted against the meager glow it shed. She became aware of the throbbing ache in her throat every time she took a breath and the devastating reality all her self-defense classes and safety awareness ingrained after years of working with the police came to naught when she needed it the most. The swiftness and surprise of her attack rendered her helpless from the moment that heavy body had covered her, something she was struggling with as much as getting out of bed.
Tears filled her eyes and clogged her sore throat as need for supporting human contact slammed into her. For the first time since arriving in Blue Springs, she didn’t want to be on this boat alone, didn’t want to be alone period. Finding her shorts, she slipped them on, not bothering to change out of her NYPD tee shirt she slept in. Grabbing her purse, she climbed the few steps to her deck, peering topside and taking a cautious look around before dashing to the pier on wobbly legs.
Other boats were moored all along the marina and she was sure there were people bunking in a few as she did, but she didn’t want strangers, she wanted the guys. This time, her desperate longing for them didn’t scare or irritate her; it became the driving force behind keeping her panic under control. Tomorrow, she reasoned as she made it to her car and sped toward Randy’s cabin, she’d question and worry about the motive behind her attack. Tonight, she wanted the sheriff and English to do what they did best, drive her demons and reality away with the temporary respite of painful pleasure.
* * *
“Shit, now what?” The desperate pounding on his front door sent Randy scrambling into a pair of jeans and down the stairs from his loft bedroom where he met Nash coming out of his room.
“Bloody hell, chap. Doesn’t your dispatch phone when there’s an emergency?”
“Of course they do,” he snapped. After seeing Daisy Mae back behind her desk this morning, her youthful face still ravaged from her ordeal and trying without success to get her to take a few more days off, then spending the better part of the afternoon at a six car pile-up on the state highway a few miles away, he wasn’t in the mood for a hysterical midnight caller. “Go back to bed, I’ll look into whatever bug’s crawled up someone’s ass.”
“I may as well help you out so we can both get back to sleep sooner.” The sheriff’s quick temper never bothered Nash. It took a few weeks, but he finally realized his gruff attitude masked a very caring cop who took all aspects of his job seriously.
“I’m coming, just hold on,” Randy called out as the pounding continued. “What’s so fu… Alena? What the hell… Nash!” he snapped out as she collapsed with a sob in his arms.
Nash took one look at her white face and red marks around her neck and a cold rage unlike anything he’d experienced before swept through him. He had never had a problem keeping his emotions in check on the job, not even with the case that brought him here and had haunted him for over a year. But seeing the terror in Alena’s green eyes and fearing her explanation, it took tremendous effort for him to tamp down the urge to grab her and demand answers. Closing the door, he stated, “I’ll pour her a shot. Go sit down.”
Alena couldn’t believe how fast her tension let up as soon as she saw the guys. The second she fell into Randy’s arms, heard Nash’s sexy accent, everything in her settled. Knowing she was safe helped ease the last of her fear. Remaining glued to Randy’s side as he settled her on the couch, she accepted the glass Nash held out to her and downed the alcohol in one long gulp, the fiery burn helping to numb her sore throat. When Nash sat on her other side, sandwiching her between them, she breathed a sigh of relief and laid her head back because she couldn’t decide which shoulder she wanted to lean on the most.
Appreciating their patient silence, she finally told them what happened. “Someone pinned me in my bed, choked me, told me to quit poking my nose where it doesn’t belong, then… then squeezed… until, until everything went black.” The sheer terror of thinking she was going to die came rushing back, making that last part difficult to get out. Their low curses were music to her ears and managed to draw a small smile from her.
“Didn’t we…”
“Not now, mate,” Nash interrupted Randy’s lecture, seeing the anger and concern written on his face that he could commiserate with.
“Yes, you did warn me, but yell at me tomorrow, okay?” Holding up her hand, she continued, “It was pitch black, I felt a ski mask when I tried to rake my nails down his face, he was heavy, tall, and whispered so low I’d never be able to identify his voice. I’m sorry, and I’m really, really tired.”
